Delaware County
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE
(HHW) PROGRAM 

1. We survey the cars as they arrive
2. Our hazardous waste vendor unloads your car
3. You’re on your way

Delaware County sponsors four (4) Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Events each year.   Each year, the number of participants and the weights, particularly computers, TVs and e-waste increases. If you’ve ever participated in an event, you leave with a good feeling knowing you’ve disposed of your hazardous items in a responsible fashion.

To back up a bit… Delaware County has been hosting HHW Events since the early 1990’s.  By 1998, Delaware County joined forces with the City of Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester and Montgomery Counties in an effort to remove HHW from the environment, collectively and more efficiently.  The advantage for Delaware County residents is that if our scheduled events are not convenient, you may take your HHW to any one of the above counties’ events.  Consequently, in 2014, there will be more than twenty opportunities for you to properly dispose of your Household Hazardous Waste.  A list of dates and locations for the entire region should be available by mid-February.

As a result of this cooperative program and in recognition of our efforts to remove hazardous materials from our environment, Delaware County and the Southeast Region were recipients of the 1999 and 2008 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.   Additionally, this Program earned a 2007 PA Waste Watcher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Special Collections and Outstanding Achievement in Reuse for our commitment to recycling, waste reduction and reuse in the state of Pennsylvania.   Our Program was awarded the 2011 North American Hazardous Materials Management Association Award for Longstanding Program Excellence for our program.  This five-county program has collectively removed more than 3 million pounds of hazardous waste from the environment, last year alone.  

Our choice of a hazardous waste vendor insures that as much of the waste that can be recycled, is.  Examples include:  motor oil is sent to a company that removes the dirt, the oil is then reused; propane tanks are drained, reusing the remaining propane; tanks are examined and those that can be reused are sent to a propane company in order to be refilled; those that cannot are sent to a scrap metal recycler.

2015 Five-County Regional HHW

Google Maps Link to the Five County Regional HHW Events

 Delco HHW Flyer

2016 UPCOMING DELAWARE COUNTY
HHW EVENTS

DATE

LOCATION

Click on the underlined Event Name for convenient Driving Directions

Saturday, June 11th

Emergency Services Training Center
1600 Calcon Hook Road
Darby, PA  19079

Saturday, July 16th

Marple Transfer Station

895 Sussex Blouvard
Broomall PA 19008

Sunday, September 18th 

Penn State University
Brandywine Campus
25 Yearsely Mill Road (Rte. #352)
Media, PA 19061

Saturday, October 22nd

Emergency Services Training Center
1600 Calcon Hook Rd.,
Sharon Hill 19079

TV’s and Computers can be dropped off at a Best Buy Location, free of charge. 

Staples and any Goodwill Industries Store will also accept computers (not monitors) any day of the week.

(Maximum of three per day.)

All Delaware County HHW Events run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rain or Shine. Driving directions may be obtained by clicking on the site, above.  Brochures are available at any municipal building; public library located in Delaware County, or by clicking on the flyer on our recycling main page; and/or by calling the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority at 610-892-9627.

HOW TO IDENTIFY HHW:

Typically, item labels that contain the words:  HAZARDOUS – DANGER – WARNING – POISONOUS and TOXIC, indicate items that contain hazardous material.

TYPICAL HHW INCLUDE:

Latex Paint is not hazardous and is not accepted at these one day hazardous waste events.

Simply open the lid and let Latex Paint air dry.  Leave the lids off when placing out with your regular trash.  In the event that you have too much paint and it will not harden using this method:

1) Take two cardboard boxes

2) Line one with an outside trash bag

3) Place kitty litter in the trash bag

4) Dump all your Latex Paint into the bag containing the kitty litter

5) Stir.  If it still seems to ‘runny’ either add more kitty litter or shredded newspaper to the mix.  (You want it to solidify.)

6) In the second box place the empty cans of paints putting the pints in the quarts and the quarts in the gallons.  All lids MUST REMAIN OFF THE CANS.

7) Place both boxes out with your regular trash.

Improperly disposed HHW can pollute the groundwater, surface water, and the air we breathe.  It can harm children, pets, and sanitation workers.  Listed below are ways you can dispose of HHW in a responsible manner.

CELL PHONE RECYCLING

Always looking to improve and expand on what we can recycle, we will again this year accept cell phones at all our HHW Collection Events for recycling.  Cell phones may also be dropped off at the Solid Waste Authority’s office at the Hunt Club in Rose Tree Park, 1521 N. Providence Road, Media, PA 19063, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. To make it easier still, most libraries have a blue drop off box.  Please recycle your cell phone books and boxes with your curbside recycling. Please no cords. Only the cell phone itself should be recycled at the locations noted above.

ITEMS NOT ACCEPTED AT AN HHW COLLECTION EVENT:

Medical Waste

Explosives                           

Unidentified Waste

Ammunition

Large Appliances

Propane Tanks

Electronics of any kind

Helium Tanks

Radioactive Waste

Tires

Appliances containing Freon